Shopgate Closes Series B Funding Round with Northcap and Creathor Venture

June 6, 2013 - PRLog -- Shopgate, the worldwide leading mobile commerce platform announced today that it has completed a high seven digit dollar Series B financing with the European investing firms Northcap and Creathor Venture, using the financing to further expand its market lead around the world and strengthen its high-profile technology leadership in the m-commerce industry.

Palo Alto, CA , June 06, 2013 – Shopgate (www.shopgate.com), the leading provider of m-commerce solutions, has closed a series B funding round led by Northcap from Denmark and Creathor Venture from Germany.

The company will use the funds to accelerate its rapid global expansion, strengthen its technology leadership in mobile commerce, enter into strategic partnerships and grow its team of m-commerce experts around the world. Shopgate already serves more than 5,000 merchants in its third year with millions of users and is on track to tenfold its gross merchandising volume this year.

"Our goal is to enable merchants to sell everything, anytime and anywhere. We are thrilled to have this financial backing to strengthen our position within the booming mobile commerce market," says Andrea Anderheggen, CEO and founder of Shopgate. "Having previously worked with Creathor Venture and after intensive talks with Northcap, we are very happy to have found real entrepreneurial investors combining deep industry knowledge and a down-to-earth, pragmatic approach to building a worldwide category leader."

"Mobile commerce will become a $ 150 bn+ market in the next three years. However, besides Ebay or Amazon only very few companies have been able to build a solid and successful company in this industry. For m-commerce to be taken seriously it needs an independent and focused approach. The Shopgate technology and the resulting benefits for merchants are far ahead of any alternative worldwide." said Dr. Gert Köhler, CEO of Creathor Venture. "The hyper growth and execution power of Shopgate in the last 18 months has been breathtaking."

"Shopgate is setting the standard in the new and rapidly expanding mobile commerce market." said Rasmus Bjerngaard, Investment Director at Northcap and new board member at Shopgate. "Shopgate is unprecedented in the market. Many people talk about Mobile Commerce, but only few are actually demonstrating real traction. The transformative power of mobile commerce for both merchants and consumers is reflected in the richness of the Shopgate solution, the quality of the company and the talented team of innovators and executors. We look forward to help build the company upon this outstanding foundation."

Since its market launch in 2011, the three founders of Shopgate, Andrea Anderheggen, Ortwin Kartmann and Dieter Kartmann have formed a team of first class e-Commerce experts to execute a rapid growth strategy, increasing the employee base to over 80 and opening offices in Butzbach and Berlin (Germany) as well as in Zurich (Switzerland), Warsaw (Poland) and Palo Alto, California (USA).  

About Shopgate:

Shopgate is an award-winning mobile shopping solution provider. Shopgate develops customized native apps and mobile sites for online shops. More than 5,000 merchants in five countries already use Shopgate, increasing their mobile revenues by up to 900%. Every day, over 50,000 orders are made through a shopping app or mobile website provided by Shopgate. Shopgate was founded in Butzbach, Germany and Palo Alto, CA by Andrea Anderheggen, Ortwin Kartmann and Dieter Kartmann and is powered by more than 80 mobile enthusiastic talents all over the world. More information about Shopgate’s products and services can be found at www.shopgate.com.

About Creathor Venture

As a leading European Venture Capital firm, Creathor Venture invests in technology-oriented companies and entrepreneurs. The focus is particulary on mobile, e-, m-, s-commerce, media, cloud, life science, mobile health and diagnostics. Regional focus is on Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia. The current portfolio of more than 30 companies is actively supported in development, growth and internationalization by our team of 15 staff. The management team of Creathor Venture consists of the founder of the former Technologieholding VC GmbH, Dr Gert Köhler as well as Ingo Franz, Cédric Köhler and Karlheinz Schmelig. The team has built more than 200 technology companies successfully, conducted more than 20 international IPOs and has achieved exceptional returns for fund investors and the financed entrepreneurs in the past.

Creathor Venture manages funds of more than EUR 180 million (USD 240 mio) and currently has four Offices in Germany (near Frankfurt & Munich), in Zurich and in Stockholm.

The investors of the current fund include the European Union, through which the fund receives funding from the "Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme" (CIP), and the "ERP EIF fund of funds" and the LfA – Gesellschaft für Vermögensverwaltung mbH, both facilities of the European Investment Fund ("EIF"), fund of funds, family offices and entrepreneurs. As the largest investor in Creathor the management underlines its entrepreneurial orientation.

About Northcap:

Northcap invests in European IT entrepreneurs, especially in the business-to-business and business-to-business-to-consumer fields. Northcap raised its third fund in 2012 and has a strong track record of expanding and internationalizing hyper growth tech companies. The investment stages range from early stage to growth. For more information about Northcap please visit www.northcap.vc